Rhetoric in Digital Communication: Merging Tradition with Modernity

Anna Bendrat

doi:10.29107/rr2019.3.8

Abstract

Looking into the definition of rhetoric in the digital space, one often encounters the view that rhetoric is too remote or too “ancient” to be used as a conceptual, theoretical or practical framework for researching digital media. However, a substantial body of contemporary media research applies the theory of rhetoric, using a modern conceptual apparatus (e.g. cognitive theories of metaphor). Based on Kenneth Burke’s model of the pentad, the article aims to show that media messages in the digital environment are based on the notion of the rhetorical situation and demonstrate that the rhetorical apparatus has a crucial role in discerning the ways to modify the discourse space in human-computer-human communication. The source of modification in the traditional model of a rhetorical situation is the interactive nature of communication in digital media and the fact that the recipient [agent a] is bestowed with the role of an active participant who can influence the content of the message. Thanks to the use of the rhetorical model of pentad, the argument goes that in contrast to traditional media, modifications in the model act 1 → agent → agency → act 2 are possible and they result from the inclusion of external participants [agent b] and changes in the ontological status of the digital medium from the role of an intermediary to an active participant in the communication process [agent c].

Highlights

Which deals with communication and interaction between people and anchors its analytical apparatus on concepts linking interpersonal communication with human action, the introduction of an intermediary in the form of a computer can be a problem on many theoretical and practical levels
Regarding the specificity of the digital medium and the discussions that we observe among computer games researchers (Wolf and Perron 2013) who are in disagreement about the interpretation of basic media concepts, it can be concluded that we are unable to transfer the conceptual apparatus used in traditional media research in an automatic and non-reflective way
The report mentions the practice of creating Facebook pages by the military council in Egypt in order to “interact with the citizens” (Fadi and Mourtada 2011, 4). This is the second type of rhetorical act modification in the pentad model, which assumes the introduction of a synchronous agent [agent b – the government] operating in parallel with the protesters [agent a] on the same medium [Facebook]: digital medium act 1 → agent a + agent b → agency → act 2

Summary

Introduction

Which deals with communication and interaction between people and anchors its analytical apparatus on concepts linking interpersonal communication with human action, the introduction of an intermediary in the form of a computer can be a problem on many theoretical and practical levels. The element of the theory of dramatism, the pentad, has been applied in this article to demonstrate its potential for the analysis of the “transformations,” “permutations” and “combinations” in the traditional communications model with the advent of digital media It is worth specifying where, according to Burke (1969, xvii), lies the boundary between the rhetorical and symbolic actions: We sought to formulate the basic stratagems which people employ, in endless variations, and consciously or unconsciously, for the outwitting or cajoling of one another. The starting point, based on Burke’s pentad, is analogical, that is, the message transmitted by the medium [act 1] gives the recipient [agent] the causative power [agency] to undertake certain symbolic actions [act 2] These activities, in contrast to communication using traditional media, can go in two directions: (1) traditional, linear and two-dimensional: digital medium act 1 →. The Internet research shows that most of the protests against the authorities at that time were initiated via Facebook:

Saudi Arabia

Spread information to the world about the movement and related events

Conclusion